1 Mt. Everest

                     Mt. Everest is the highest peak in the world. Mount Everest, called Peak XV after its survey by the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, conducted by Great Britain, in 1856,  is also called Chomolangma, meaning  “Goddess Mother of Snows” or literally "Holy Mother" in Tibetan and Sagarmatha, meaning "Mother of the Universe" in Nepalese. The mountain is sacred to the native people in Tibet and Nepal.

                     Mount Everest's current elevation of 29,035 feet is based on a GPS device implanted on the highest bedrock point under ice and snow in 1999 by an American expedition led by Bradford Washburn. This exact elevation is not officially recognized by many countries, including Nepal. A measurement in 2005 by the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping determined that the elevation of Mount Everest is 29,017.16 feet (8,844.43 meters), with a variance of 8.3 inches. This elevation was also made from the highest rock point.A cap of ice and snow atop the bedrock varies between three and four feet deep, as determined by both the American and Chinese expeditions.

                The official altitude of the world's highest peak is 29,029 feet (8,848m). However, the National Geographic Society has determined the height to be 6 feet taller, 29,035 feet, but the Nepali government has not yet been made this new altitude official. Shifting tectonic plates continue to push Everest upward, along with the whole Himalaya mountain range, at 1.6 to 3.9 inches (4 to 10 centimeters) per year. Everest is part of the Himalaya mountain range along the border of Nepal and Tibet. It is located 27° 59' North latitude, 86° 55' East longitude.

                In 1841, Sir George Everest, Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843, first recorded the location of Everest. It was subsequently named "Peak XV". In 1865, it was renamed Mt. Everest to honor Sir George. Each climber has a different opinion about what is the most difficult part of climbing Everest. Most would agree, though, that the altitude is tough to deal with. And most will also have stories about crossing the infamous Khumbu Icefall going from Base Camp to Camp One. Mountaineers climb through this moving sea of ice using ordinary aluminum garden ladders.

Location:          On the border of Nepal and Tibet/China, Asia
Elevation:         29,035 feet (8,850 meters)
Prominence:     29,035 feet (8,850 meters). Most prominent mountain in the world.
Coordinates:     27°59′17″ N / 86°55′31″ E
First Ascent:     Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) and Tenzing Norgay (Nepal) on May 29, 1953.

2 K2 (Mount Godwin Austen)

                           A name for K2 is Chogori, derived from Balti words chhogo ri, meaning "large mountain." The Chinese call the mountain Qogir meaning "Great Mountain," while Balti locals call it Kechu.            
         
                            The name K2 was given in 1852 by British surveyor T.G. Montgomerie with "K" designating the Karakoram Range and "2" since it was the 2nd peak listed. During his survey, Montgomerie, standing on Mt. Haramukh 125 miles to the south, noted two prominent peaks to the north, calling them K1 and K2. While he kept native names, he found that K2 did not have a known name.
                           K2, located on the Pakistan-Chinese border, is the 2nd highest mountain in the world; Pakistan's highest mountain; and the world's 22nd most prominent mountain. Later K2 was named Mount Godwin-Austen for Haversham Godwin-Austen (1834-1923), an early British surveyor and explorer. The peak's 2nd ascent came on August 9, 1977, 23 years after K2's first ascent, by a Japanese team led by Ichiro Yoshizawa. The team also included Ashraf Aman, the first Pakistani climber to summit K2.

 Location:            Karakoram Range, Pakistan/China, Asia
Elevation:           28,253 feet (8,612 meters)
Prominence:       13,179 feet (4,017 meters)
Coordinates:       35°52′57″ N / 76°30′48″ E
First Ascent:       Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli (Italy), July 31, 1954

3 Kangchenjunga

               The name Kangchenjunga translates "Five Treasures of Snow," referring to Kangchenjunga's five peaks. The Tibetan words are: Kang (Snow) chen (Big) dzö (Treasury) nga (Five). The five treasures are Gold, Silver, Precious Stones, Grain, and Holy Scriptures.
                Kangchenjunga is the highest mountain in India and second highest in Nepal and is the easternmost 8,000-meter peak. The mountain is in the Kangchenjunga Himal, a high mountainous region bounded on the west by the Tamur River and on the east by the Teesta River. Kangchenjunga lies about 75 miles east southeast of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
         In 1905,  the first attempt to climb Kangchenjunga was  by a party led by Aleister Crowley  who had attempted K2 three years before, and Dr. Jules Jacot-Guillarmod on the southwest side of the mountain. The expedition climbed to 21,300 feet (6,500 meters) on August 31 when they retreated because of avalanche danger. The following day, September 1, three team members climbed higher, possibly Crowley thought to "approximately 25,000 feet," although the height was unsubstantiated. Later that day Alexi Pache, one of the three climbers, was killed in an avalanche along with three porters.

Location:          Border of Nepal and India, central Asia
Elevation:         28,169 feet (8,586 meters)
Prominence:     12,867 feet (3,922 meters)
First Ascent:    George Band and Joe Brown (UK), May 25, 1955

4 Lhotse

                      Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516 metres (27,940 ft), after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. Part of the Everest massif, Lhotse is connected to the latter peak via the South Col. Lhotse means “South Peak” in Tibetan.                    
                     Peak adjoins Mt. Everest, rising 2,000 feet above the South Col. The summit is very sharp with no place to sit down. The huge South Face is one of steepest in world, rising 1.9 miles in 1.4 miles.Lhotse has three summits: Lhotse Main (8,516 meters), Lhotse Shar (8,383 meters), and Lhotse East (8,413 meters).The first ascent was made during the Swiss Mt. Everest/Lhotse Expedition in 1956, during which the Swiss made the second ascent of Mt. Everest.          
                      Tomo Cesan claimed he climbed the massive South Face in 1990. Most climbers didn’t believe that a solo climber could ascend this difficult wall that had defeated many strong parties. He later recanted saying he only reached the summit ridge, but most don’t believe that either. A Russian expedition climbed the South Face later in 1990 and said a solo ascent was impossible.

Location:          Nepal, Asia
Elevation:         27,890 feet 8,501 meters)
First Ascent:     Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss (Switzerland), May    18, 1956

5 Makalu

         The name Makalu is derived from the Sanskrit Maha Kala, a name for the Hindu god Shiva that translates “Big Black.” The Chinese name for the peak is Makaru.    
           Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world. The dramatic four-sided, pyramid-shaped mountain rises 14 miles (22 kilometers) southeast of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, and Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world, in the Mahalanger Himalaya. The isolated peak straddles the border of Nepal and Tibet, a region currently governed by China. The summit itself lies directly on the international boundary.
           Makula has two lower subsidiary summits. Chomolonzo (25,650 feet / 7,678 meters) is two miles northwest of the main Makalu summit. Chomo Lonzo (25,603 feet / 7,804 meters) northeast of Makalu's summit in Tibet is an impressive peak in its own right that towers above the Kangshung Valley. The mountain was first climbed by Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy during a reconnaissance expedition to Makalu in 1954 via its gentle southwest ridge. The mountain did not see a second ascent until 1993 when a Japanese expedition climbed it.

Location:       Mahalangur Himalayas, Nepal, Asia
Elevation:      27,765 feet (8,462 meters)
Coordinates:  27.889167 N / 87.088611 E
First Ascent:  Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray (France), May 15, 1955

6 Cho Oyu

             
  Cho Oyu (pronounced “choy-Oh-you”) is Tibetan for “Turquoise God,” cho god yu turquoise. It is 30 miles west of Mount Everest on the Tibet/China and Nepal border. It was the fifth 8,000-meter peak climbed.  West of Cho Oyo is Nangpa La, a major pass and trade route between Nepal and Tibet. Yak caravans often carry black market goods over it. In 2006 Chinese soldiers shot Tibetan refugees here to world outrage.
                Cho Oyu is the easiest 8,000-meter peak to climb, via its Northwest Ridge, with no technical climbing, big snowfields, and little objective danger. It is easily accessed by 4-wheel-drive vehicle, often guided, and is the first 8,000-meter peak for most climbers. First ascent in 1954 by an illegal Austrian expedition that crossed over Nangpa La to access it. First ascent climbers were Herbert Tichy, Joseph Jöchler and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama.

Location:         Nepal, Asia
Coordinates:    28°06′00″ N 86°39′00″ E
Elevation:        26,906 feet (8,201 meters)
First Ascent:    Joseph Joechler, Herbert Tichy (Italy), Pasang Dawa Lama (Nepal), October 19, 1954

7 Dhaulagiri

    Dhaulagiri is the high point of the Dhaulagiri Himal or massif in Nepal, a sub-range of the Himalaya that rises between the Bheri River on the west and the Kali Gandaki River on the east. Dhaulagiri is the highest mountain located completely within Nepal; all others lie along the Tibet/China border to the north. Annapurna I, the tenth highest mountain in the world at 26,545 feet (8,091 meters) high, is 21 miles (34 kilometers) east of Dhaulagiri.
           The Nepalese name Dhaulagiri originates with its Sanskrit name dhawala giri, which translates to “beautiful white mountain,” an appropriate name for the high peak which is always cloaked in snow. The deep canyon, which plunges between Dhaulagiri on the west and 26,545-foot Annapurna I on the east, is the world’s deepest river gorge if measured from the river to the summits. The elevation difference from the river, at 8,270 feet (2,520 meters), and the 26,795-foot summit of Dhaulagiri is an astounding 18,525 feet.  The 391-mile-long Kali Gandaki River also drops 20,420 feet from its 20,564-foot headwaters at the Nhubine Himal Glacier in Nepal to its 144-foot mouth at the Ganges River in India with a steep gradient drop of 52 feet per mile.
Elevation: 26,794 feet (8,167 meters); 7th highest mountain in the world; 8,000-meter peak; ultra-prominent peak.

Location:            Nepal, Asia
Prominence:      11,014 feet (3,357 meters); 55th most prominent mountain in the world
First Ascent:      Nawang Dorje, Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener, Albin Schelbert (Austria),  Nima                                  Dorje (Nepal), May 13, 1960.

8 Manaslu

    The name Manaslu comes from the Sanskrit word Manasa, translated as “Mountain of the Spirit.” Manasa means "soul" or "spirit."
                Manaslu is a very steep, sharp peak that dominates the landscape 40 miles east of Annapurna in the Manaslu Himal in northern Nepal. It is the centerpiece of the 642-square-mile Manaslu Conservation Area, a conservation area intended to. To conserve and for sustainable management of the natural resources and rich cultural heritage and to promote ecotourism to improve livelihood of the local people in the MCA region.
                After the first ascent, Manaslu was unclimbed until 1971 when another Japanese expedition placed two climbers, Kazuharu Kohara and Motoki, on the summit after successfully ascending the Northwest Spur.
                Manaslu is a dangerous peak with a high fatality rate, high avalanche danger on the lower slopes, but easier non-technical climbing up high. Manaslu is the fourth most dangerous 8,000-meter peaks to climb, behind K2, Nanga Parbet, and Annapurna, with 59 deaths since 1950.

Location:           Nepal, Asia
Elevation:         26,758 feet (8,156 meters)
First Ascent:     Toshia Imanishi (Japan) and Gyalzen Norbu                        
                          (Nepal), May 9, 1956

9 Nanga Parbat

         Nanga Parbat means "Naked Mountain" in Urdu which is located in Pakistan. The name the locals call the peak is Diamir, which translates to "king of mountains."
                       It is the 9th highest mountain and the 14th most prominent mountain in the world. It has three major faces--Diamir, Rakhiot, and Rupal.The mountain lies at the western end of the Himalayan Range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan.
                      Nanga Parbat is considered the second hardest 8,000-meter peak after K2, the second highest peak in the world, as well as one of the most dangerous. After 31 people died attempting to climb Nanga Parbat before it's 1953 first ascent. Nanga Parbat is the third-most dangerous 8,000-meter peak with a death rate of 22.3% of climbers dying on the mountain. In 2012, 68 climber are death on Nanga parbat. It is also known as the Killer Mountain.

Location:        Pakistan, Asia
Elevation:       26,658 feet (8,125 meters)
Prominence:   15,118 feet (4,608 meters)
Coordinates:   35.2375 N / 74.589167 W
First Ascent:   Solo ascent by Hermann Buhl (Austria), July 3, 1953

10 Annapurna

                             Annapurna is a Sanskrit word that literally means “full of food” but translates to Goddess of the Harvest. Annapurna is a Hindu fertility goddess. Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world, one of the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, and is the 94th most prominent mountain in the world. The mountain is technically named Annapurna I and is the high point of a massif that includes five other major peaks over 23,620 feet (7,200 meters), including 26,040-foot (7,937-meter) Annapurna II, the 16th highest mountain in the world.
                             Annapurna I is the highest point of a 34-mile-long range, which is east of the Kali Gandaki River’s deep gorge. The gorge, which separates Annapurna from Dhaulagiri I some 20 miles away, is considered the world's deepest canyon. It was the first 8,000-meter peak climbed and the first to be climbed without supplemental oxygen.


Location: Nepal, Asia
Elevation: 26,545 feet (8,091 meters)
Prominence: 9,790 feet (2,984 meters). 94th most prominent mountain in the world.
First Ascent: Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal (France), June 3, 1950
Coordinates: 28.596111 N /  83.820278 E